Post navigation

The Squier Telecaster Butterscotch Affinity Review. Looks like THE Telecaster!

I’ve written a few reviews on Squier Affinity Telecasters. Why? Well, for a good reason. They’re excellent little inexpensive guitars that are generally very surprising to hear, play, and own. Surprising in an excellent way… I find that people want to know more about them – and huge numbers of searches on the internet (at least, searches for guitar reviews) touch on the Squier Telecaster made by Fender.

I’ve owned several Squier Affinity Telecasters over the past 6 years. The last two years have seen several (buy/play/record/people see them and want to buy them/sell) butterscotch individuals. They’re hard to keep – folks always want to buy mine. I’ve also used them for some nice mods, like Mini Humbucker pickup in the neck, SSH (with the standard bridge, a Strat middle, and a mini humbucker in the neck, Nice!), and standard Tele single-single, but with cool things like split rail humbucker pickups and more. They’re really great little workhorses.

One of the most remarkable things is that the special edition see-through butterscotch with maple fretboard and black 1-ply pickguard combination looks very similar to old 50s Telecasters from a distance. I think it’s brilliant! Telecasters are simple and awesome genius anyway, but to make them look like their ancestors makes that wonderful original look accessible by the general guitar-buying public. My American Deluxe Ash Telecaster and my (at least the last one I had) Squier Butterscotch Affinity Telecaster have some shared DNA. I’m not saying that my American Deluxe and the last Squier were similar in quality, content, and sound, but I don’t take my American Deluxe out for gigs or for throw-around guitar stuff… The Squier is a stunt-double! 🙂

Quick Opinion: These are great, simple, nice-sounding guitars that are fun to play and fun at which to look. It’s hard to go wrong with one of these if you’re looking for a very-inexpensive-entry-level guitar.

In particular, the “special edition” transparent butterscotch Tele is nice looking, plays snappy-like, and is usually pretty nice in quality. It’s interesting: sometimes the wood has dark blems in it – very visible on a transparent finish guitar… but, for the money, you just can’t beat it with a (slab body) stick…

These come in a Lefty version, too! That’s awesome news for all those under-represented left-handed guitarists and budding guitar players out there. Great!

Sound: If you’re looking for the vintage Telecaster sound, this Squier Affinity Tele delivers it pretty well. You’re not going to get built-by-super-cool-people pickups and such, but really, it DOES sound like a vintage Telecaster! A little noisier, a little weaker, and less clarity.

The sound has some “Can-do” parts, and it has some “Not-Really” parts. Read on…
1) Pickups/electronics
2) Tone woods – a reasonable caveat

Pickups and Electronics: The electronics in general are standard-issue low-end Asian-made stuff, with a little chicklet tone capacitor/cap for the tone potentiometer and really thin really inexpensive wire for circuitry. The jack is decent enough, probably a little above par for guitars in this price range. They’ll crackle after a decade of light use, sooner with regular use. (Jacks and pots are a quick and easy way to extend the life of the guitar’s electronics for a very long time… For the cost of this guitar, the parts are about or just above par.)

The switch is the little cheap PCB (printed circuit board) three-way blade switch you’ll find in millions of Asian-made guitars (and, even some guitars made elsewhere). It works fine when the guitar is young and the blade hasn’t been actuated much. Give it a decade or even some heavy sweaty use and it will make noise and cause drop-outs over time. This ISN’T a downer for this guitar – it’s PAR for guitars in this price range. I’m just being thorough and noting these things.

Overall? The electronics are about average and sound OK when they’re fresh.

The pickups have simple ceramic bar magnets and are vintage-strength wound. They SNAP, they QUACK, they PLINK, and they TWANG. And they do a GREAT job of it for a guitar that costs less than $200 US (as I write this). They’re TELE all the way, baby!

Downside of these pickups? They’re noisier than MIM-, CIJ-, or USA-issue pickups (noted in all my Affinity Tele reviews to date). The big downside is that they lack the clarity of nice stuff. Compared to other inexpensive single-coil pickups, they sound GREAT. Compared to pickups that cost almost as much as this entire guitar, they’re muddy.
But guess what? Throw some overdrive on it and a nice tube pre-amp, and you’ll suprise a LOT of people with the sound!

Tone woods The tone woods are pretty much par for guitars in this price range. The body tends to be several piece of wood glued together, and there can be dark spots. I have, however, played SEVERAL that were REALLY nice and had two or three pieces of handsome wood. The poly finish is bright, even, strong, and quite stunning. The body wood sounds great in this price range.

The neck wood is a REAL nice feature of these instruments… The necks on every single Squier Affinity butterscotch blonde Tele I’ve owned or played has been even, smooth, nicely shaped (a semi-thick rounded profile – the Tele classic profile), and has been easy on the fretting hand and has that great maple sound, too! I’ve seen the necks from these end up on parts-o-casters with NICE bodies and electronics: the players seem to like them!

Playability Telecasters are simple, even unabashedly so. They are easy to play for folks with small hands, and are medium-weight on the shoulder. I’ve always used Fender, Ernie Ball, or D’Addario 9-42 strings on my Squier Telecasters – and they practically play themselves with these light strings. I’ve started some beginners with Ernie Ball 8-38 to start with, but as soon as they get a little calloused and start having too much buzz, I switch them to 9-42 strings (we lovingly call them “nines”).

Playability: The neck I alluded to the neck earlier in my review. I think it’s worth its own conversation… The neck on these is really VERY good. I’ve played $300 guitars with neck that don’t feel as good – in either quality or workmanship. The shape and depth of these necks is excellent. For those of you who haven’t enjoyed a Tele, go to your local G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) retailer and pick one up and play it for at least 10 minutes straight. These necks are very easy to appreciate.

Quality: One of the lovely things about these guitars is that they’re consistently made. Almost every one is very good, most are excellent. I’ve only had two from-the-factory problems with the (many) Squier Affinity Telecasters I’ve owned or played. Both were minor issues that were easily resolved. The solder joints are good, the necks are excellent, the body finish is excellent, the materials are on par for a guitar this price, and the overall execution is good. You might find a lemon in the millions, but frankly, you’d have to try pretty hard to find one.

Value: Fender has only risen the street price of these guitars a little at a time for the past 6 years I’ve been playing them. The cost rise has been almost minimal, given changes in the price of materials and offshore labor… They’re a real bargain. An equivalent guitar (quality, features, playability) is often $50 more with other brands. If you’re looking for value and playability in a very inexpensive package, these are awesome!

Wishes: There’s not much for which to wish on these. They’re pretty great all-around. If ever I had a wish on these, it would be to have some tinting in the neck paint, or maybe just to keep on making them…

I bought mine about 4 months ago at Guitar Center brand new for $180.00 plus tax. It’s a 2013 model which according to the serial number, was made in January. I hated the stock top load bridge with the standard bridge saddles because it made restringing very difficult , so I installed a new, Gold plated all steel , top load which has the more conventional , Vintage style , Telecaster 3 barrel saddles which allow for much easier restringing and also more sustain. From there, I decided to just re-do the whole guitar from top to bottom. I ended up taking out the stock bridge pickup and replaced it with a Duncan Designed TE-101B which I glued some Foam Rubber underneath it to eliminate feedback, and also replaced all of the pup screws with rubber tubing as well. I then installed a Sprague .047 Orange Cap on the Tone pot along with Copper Foil shielding tape in both the pup & control cavities of the Guitar. After that, I put in all new Fender parts which included a ” F ” logo neck plate , Fender Telecaster waterslide headstock decal , 1950’s design tele String Tree , and a Red Tortiseshell pickguard . I have it strung and intonated with Fender 250’s 9-42 and it is a absolute killer guitar which has become my No#1 axe out of my collection.